“what is a friend? we would say humorously. What is a conversation?” After 300+ pages with Rooney’s characters, I’m honestly not sure how to answer those questions. How do you evaluate friendship when your perception is biased by your interpretation of communication? Do conversations you have with yourself even count? These are core elements explored through the life of Frances,…
Category: Book Reviews
Shuggie Bain
I’ll be honest, my main interest in this book came when it won the 2020 Booker Prize and I was curious if it would live up to the hype. Suffice it to say, it did. In an oversimplification, this is a book about longing: longing to be accepted, longing for bigger and better, longing for normalcy, longing for…
If Cats Disappeared From the World
(Translated by Eric Selland) If you had to erase one thing from the world to live an extra day, what would it be? This is the reality of the novel’s narrator as he’s faced with the opportunity to live just a little bit longer. The narrator, who works as a postman and lives with his cat…
The Four Winds
I struggle at times to identify the difference between the quality of a book and how I feel reading it, knowing that just because I might not like a topic does not discredit the content itself. The Four Winds epitomized this struggle for me as I try to decide whether or not I “like” a book that focuses…
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
“But that act (a son teaching his mother) reversed our hierarchies, and with it our identities, which, in this country, were already tenuous and tethered.” I love the moment where a certain line makes you catch your breath and pause, taking the time to soak in the sentence. Ocean Vuong provides that experience consistently throughout On Earth We’re…
Expectation
I first came across this title as part of a class assignment and, upon reading the synopsis, thought, “this is a British version of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”. Now that I’ve read the book, I firmly stand behind my initial hypothesis. Cat, Lissa and Hannah live together in East London, brought into each other’s lives…
The Diary of a Bookseller
Quick disclaimer: I am often visually aware of a book even if I don’t remember its title, so in this way I think it helps to see the covers and match the review with books you might have seen crop up other places. The tricky bit is that the US and UK often have different book jackets,…
The Song of Achilles
My newly scratched itch for Greek mythology (coupled with a copy of the book being readily available) means that 2% Books will experience its first ever back-to-back review of the same author. Although the title bears Achilles’ name, the book revolves around the life of Patroclus, the story’s narrator and Achilles’ closest companion. Born a king in his…
Circe
For all you who also went through (are still in) a Greek mythology phase, it has been exciting to see Madeline Miller gain so much visibility and traction with her novels The Song of Achilles and Circe. While they’re not connected in plot, I apologize in advance that I’m giving you the review of her second title first….
The Bridges of Madison County
“Analysis destroys wholes. Some things, magic things, are meant to stay whole. If you look at their pieces, they go away.” I, like many book lovers, try to read before I watch, but I saw this movie a few years ago, not realizing it was a book, and I’m almost thankful for that. I believe my overall impression and appreciation of the book…